Karol Severin

Karol is a co-founder and Research Director at MIDiA. With over a decade of experience in consumer research, industry analysis, and consulting, Karol oversees the direction, coverage and quality of all MIDiA’s research output. Prior to co-founding MIDiA, Karol gained experience in TMT market research and consulting, as well as an entertainment industry startup founder. He holds a business management degree from Queen Mary, University of London, with specialisation in strategy, quantitative methods, and entrepreneurship.

The ‘Covid Bounce’ In Games Can Cloud Judgement About What Lies Ahead

Karol Severin

1 May 2020

Covid-19

Games

Compared to most, the games industry has benefited from the Covid-19 outbreak and related lockdowns. For a lot of games companies, engagement has increased and so have revenues, albeit just partially....

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COVID-19
Impact on Entertainment Demand and Behaviours

Mark Mulligan, Tim Mulligan, Karol Severin, Alistair Taylor, Keith Jopling and Hanna Kahlert

April 2020

Free Report

Spotify

Amazon

Netflix

COVID-19 is having a clear and direct impact on the entertainment and media industries, driven by investor uncertainty – resulting in plummeting share prices – and restrictions on movement of people...

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Watch Out, Twitch, YouTube and Apple Arcade: Facebook Gaming Is Coming For Your Market Share

Karol Severin

21 Apr 2020

Applee arcade

Facebook

facebook games app

Facebook has launched a new app, Facebook Gaming, currently available on Google Play.  Though the company has been in games for years, this is a major development in its games-related strategy as...

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The Gaming Boom Is Driven by Different Genders In Different Age Groups

Karol Severin

16 Apr 2020

covid-19 impact

female gaming

gamer demographihcs

We know that we are experiencing a spike in games engagement during this crisis. 21% of adult consumers in the US say they’ve spent more time playing games online ‘in the last two weeks’ (fielded...

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Tech Major Market Shares 2019
Amazon Powers Ahead

Mark Mulligan, Tim Mulligan, Karol Severin and Alistair Taylor

April 2020

Apple

iTunes store

Spotify

The tech majors are power players in the global digital content marketplace through a combination of their own content services, ad monetisation and control of audiences via devices, search and social....

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Quick take: Games companies try discounts, delays, and self-disruption

Karol Severin

7 Apr 2020

Amazon Games

Games

Games

Amazon might delay games streaming service launch to 2021 The New York Times has reported that Amazon’s games streaming proposition (now deemed Project Tempo) may be delayed to 2021 due to coronavirus....

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Quick Take: Games News That Matters, but You May Have Missed Due To Coronavirus

Karol Severin

30 Mar 2020

Epic Games

F1 cancelled

Fortnite

Google Stadia launched Stadia Maker s to get independent developers on board: If this works, it could play a pivotal role in the success of the service. Especially in the times of lockdowns and cocooning...

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Gamer Consumer Survey
Country Snapshots

Karol Severin

March 2020

US

UK

Sweden

Gamer Consumer Survey Snapshots for the US, UK, Australia, Canada, Germany, Spain, and Sweden.

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Why Games Could Benefit from Coronavirus

Karol Severin

17 Mar 2020

corona virus

coronavirus

Covid-19

Yes, it’s another coronavirus-related one, but this time hopefully a more cheerful story than what we’ve been reading and hearing over the last few weeks – at least for gamers and the games industry....

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Peak Attention
Competing in a Saturated Attention Economy

Mark Mulligan and Karol Severin

March 2020

Apple

Spotify

Amazon

Smartphones have made media consumption more interconnected than ever and are still increasing audiences time spent with entertainment. Filling the residual audience downtime from the analogue era was...

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Could Google Eat the E-sports Media Rights World?

Karol Severin

21 Feb 2020

Google entered a media rights partnership with Activision in January, including rights for the Overwatch League, Call of Duty League and HearthStone. Last week The Esports Observer reported on multiple...

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Gaming Is Now Equally Distributed Between Males and Females, But the Supply Side Still Needs To Catch Up

Karol Severin

4 Feb 2020

Gaming has been travelling towards a more gender-equal distribution in 2019. While mobile gaming has traditionally been well-represented among females, PC and console gaming have historically skewed male....

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Battle Royale
The Monetisation Sweet Spot

Karol Severin

January 2020

Facebook

Twitter

Gaming

Niche is the new mainstream. Battle Royale players are one of these niches – far from mainstream in terms of consumer penetration, but impactful and valuable. Across music, video, news, magazines and...

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What Star Wars in Fortnite Tells Us About the Future of Digital Entertainment

Karol Severin

10 Dec 2019

cross-entertainment strategy

cross-format entertainment

cross-platform entertainment

It has been revealed that Disney will soon be premiering a scene from its upcoming The Rise of Skywalker film. What makes this a truly newsworthy story is that the event will take place inside Fortnite’s...

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20/20 Vision
MIDiA Research Predictions 2020

Alistair Taylor, Amanda Stears, Karol Severin, Keith Jopling, Mark Mulligan, Tim Mulligan and Zach Fuller

December 2019

Apple

Spotify

Discovery

In this report MIDiA Research analysts present their predictions for what will be the big trends in digital media and tech across music, video, media, brands, marketing, games and sports in 2020 and the...

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Recession Impact
How an Economic Downturn Could Reshape Digital Media

Alistair Taylor, Amanda Stears, Karol Severin, Keith Jopling, Mark Mulligan, Tim Mulligan and Zach Fuller

October 2019

Apple

Spotify

Amazon

Ten years on from the credit crunch, the global economy could be poised to enter another economic recession. Many of the underlying causes of the credit crunch remain in place, due to governments lacking...

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Why PlayStation Now’s Price Cut Alone Is Not Enough To Compete

Karol Severin

2 Oct 2019

Games

Games

games streaming

Despite a price cut, PlayStation remains the most expensive gaming experience: PlayStation has announced a 50% price cut to its games streaming service, PlayStation Now. Though slicing a streaming service...

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US Gamers
Targeting Games Franchises to Compete in the Attention Economy

Karol Severin

September 2019

YouTube

Netflix

Facebook

Games used to be isolated from other media activities. This has all changed with the rise of the attention economy, and the shift of gaming devices from purely consoles, to smartphones now supporting other...

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The Post-Peak Attention Economy
What’s Next for Entertainment?

Karol Severin

September 2019

Free Report

Consumer behaviour

Apple

Spotify

With only 24 hours in a day and an ever-growing number of entertainment services competing for consumer choice to spend them on, consumers have reached the limits of their available time – and therefore...

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Arcade Plays To Apple’s Strengths and Everyone Else’s Weaknesses

Karol Severin

11 Sep 2019

4.99

apple arcade

downloadable games

As of yesterday, Apple has revealed more detail about its upcoming Arcade. For $4.99 per month, users will have the ability to download and play 100+ exclusive games across Apple devices. While Apple is...

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